PACNY - 12th Annual Environmental Conference

One of the more interesting conferences I have attended is the annual Environmental Conference held by the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY - http://www.pacny.org/). This year is PACNY's 12th Annual Environmental Conference and as usual the line-up of speakers is impressive. The conference is held at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York on February 28 & 29, 2008. Featured presenters include Chris Alonge, PE of NYS Department of Labor (writer of the current Industrial Code Rule 56 (the asbestos regulations), Maureen Cox also of NYS Department of Labor (her division enforces the asbestos regulations), David Heckman from OSHA, discussing OSHA Cooperative programs, and Carl Thurnau, PE of NYS Education Department, discussing PCBs and the NYSED. In addition, to presenters the conference also features an exhibitor's area where you can meet the suppliers and manufacturers of abatement and safety equipment. Turning Stone Resort and Casino (http://www.turningstone.com/) is an interesting place to have the conference. A little out of the way for us downstaters but worth the drive (almost 5 hours from Syosset, New York) or you can fly into Syracuse and then drive to Verona (approximately 40 minutes). Turning Stone Resort (the Oneida Indian Nation runs this resort and casino) has several excellant dining areas, has several golf courses, has your typical gaming areas, and entertainment (Country singer Toby Keith is playing there on March 1). But the real reason to go is the Environmental Conference, which is probably the best conference that addresses New York State environmental and safety issues. The presenters are industry professionals or regulators that are deeply involved in the New York State abatement industry. I hope to see you there.

NYS Labor Law 220-H

New York State passed Labor Law 220-H this past summer. This law will go into effect on July 18, 2008 and require all laborers, workers, and mechanics on a public work site show certification that they took a minimum of a 10-hour OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Construction Safety Course. OSHA issues the certification cards after successfully completing the course. Future Environment Designs offers the OSHA 10-hour Construction Safety Course in Syosset or at your convenience and then applies to OSHA for the certification cards. The 10-hour course is actually a two-day course, because 10 hours is the total contact time for the course. That means breaks are not included in the 10 hours. Once you add appropriate breaks (lunch, coffee, etc.) into the time that brings the class to approximately 12 hours which is two days of training 6 hours each day.
The regulation applies to all contracts for state or municipality work totaling $250,000 or more for construction, reconstruction, repair or maintenance. It covers all workers on the job, employed either by the contractor, sub-contractor or other person(s) doing or contracting to do the whole or a part of the work contemplated by the contract. The training must be completed before the workers arrive at the job site. The regulation will be enforced by the New York State Department of Labor.
Future Environment Designs will add this class to our schedule to meet the anticipated demand for the class.

Handling Nonfriable Asbestos Waste in New York State

We recently had a question regarding how to handle nonfriable asbestos wastes (roofing materials, vinyl floor tiles, asbestos cement pipe) in New York State. The first regulations we need to review is the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulations, in particular the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs). NESHAPs is the regulation that regulates asbestos waste disposal on the federal level. NESHAPs would separate asbestos waste into three categories, the first category would be regulated asbestos containing materials (RACM); all friable asbestos containing materials are RACM. The second and third categories would be nonfriable organically bound materials (e.g. roofing materials and vinyl floor tiles) are Category 1 nonfriable asbestos waste and other nonfriable asbestos waste (e.g. cement pipe and transite) would be Category 2 nonfriable asbestos waste. Assuming these last two categories do not become friable during the removal, EPA NESHAPS would not regulate the disposal of these materials. Leaving the responsibility to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to regulate these materials. On January 25, 1985, NYSDEC issued a policy memorandum (for a copy of the NYSDEC memo follow the link on the title to our discussion group) regarding asbestos waste. This memo states that regulated asbestos waste includes friable asbestos material waste (Regulated Asbestos Containing Materials (RACM) under EPA NESHAPS) and control device asbestos waste. Control device asbestos waste is defined as any asbestos containing waste material that is collected in a pollution control device. Other asbestos containing waste shall be treated as construction and demolition debris.

This leaves us to decide what a pollution control device is? My view is that a pollution control device would be an asbestos labeled waste bags (as seen in the photo above) or drums. As long as you do not place nonfriable category 1 or 2 asbestos containing waste (assuming that during the removal you did not make the materials friable) into an asbestos labeled bag or drum, the waste can be disposed of as construction and demolition debris in New York State. If you have a differing opinion, please comment below or send me an email and we will post it here and in our discussion group.

IAQA NYC Metro Chapter Meeting

As an Advisory Board Member of the New York Metro Chapter of the Indoor Air Quality Association, I would like to invite you to a workshop on Wednesday, December 5, 2007. The workshop is titled:

“LEADERSHIP IN ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN”

The goal of the workshop is to familiarize the attendees with the US Green Building Council and how to attain the various LEED Professional Accreditations. The workshop will be held at the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, & Airmen’s Club at 283 Lexington Avenue (between 36th and 37th streets) in New York City from 8AM to 12 Noon. A continental breakfast will be served and there will be plenty of time for networking and talking with speakers. The cost for IAQA members is $40.00 and $60.00 for non-members. Attendees will be awarded 4 RC’s from the AIAQC.

Future Environment Designs visits Harpoon Brewery

We visited Harpoon Brewery's Windsor Vermont Facility and observed the brew making process at this $5 million dollar facility (built in 1998). This facility was upgraded in the winter of 2005 to increase it's capacity to 55,000 barrels. This facility also features a Brewery Store and the Harpoon Beer Garden, a lunchtime restaurant. Harpoon Brewery was founded in 1986 (Boston, MA) and makes several beers that we were able to taste during our visit. We tasted Harpoon's IPA, UFO Hefeweizen, Brown Session Ale, Harpoon Munich Dark, and 100 Barrel Series Glacier Harvest (which was sold out and only available at the facility). Harpoon is a very good brewer and all the beers we tasted were excellant. I prefered the Brown Session Ale, and the Glacier Harvest. But the one I chose to have with my lunch (The Vermonter - a hot grilled panini sandwich with smoked turkey breast & smoked bacon, Granny Smith Apple, red onion, cabot sharp cheddar & spicy mustard on Homemade Hearty Tuscan White Bread) was the Munich Dark. The Munich Dark is a Munchen Dunkel style which had a rich malt and chocolate taste though slightly bitter. Harpoon has several festivals which would make excellant times to visit either the Windsor Facility or the Boston Facility. We enjoyed our visit, and had a great lunch and a beer.